Aircraft, and in particular aircraft that are not capable of vertical takeoff and landing, comprise undercarriages comprising several wheels. Normally, the wheels of such undercarriages are not actively driven nor are they made to rotate during the landing procedure, prior to the landing shock. However, there are printed prior art publications in which it has been proposed that wheels of undercarriages be driven so that, in particular, tyre wear as a result of friction during landing is minimised, and/or that the aircraft can be taxied. For example, WO 2006/078322 A2 describes a drive system for an aircraft comprising one or several nosewheel gear motors, which drive system is used to move the aircraft on the ground with precision, thus improving, for example, aircraft safety during taxiing. WO 2006/138267 A2 also shows a drive system for the nosewheel gear of an aircraft, which drive system is used in particular for taxiing and can in particular communicate with control devices that are situated outside the aircraft, and which drive system, furthermore, can, for example, be coupled to satellite navigation. In contrast to this, the further printed publication WO 2007/048164 A1 proposes a mechanism that can be used for driving a wheel of an aircraft, in particular in order to reduce tyre wear as a result of friction during landing, and to boost the brakes of the aircraft after the landing procedure by providing an antitorque movement.
The devices and systems shown in prior art are associated with a number of disadvantages. The largest shared disadvantage relates to the relatively high additional weight in return for a relatively modest number of additional functions gained, which functions are not available to a conventional aircraft. For example, an arrangement of motors on wheels of an undercarriage is only used in order to support the taxiing procedure and to drive an undercarriage wheel directly prior to landing. For example, the proposed systems do not make it possible to control the taxiing procedure entirely from the outside without the need to use the aircraft's own steering. For example, if automatic or semi-automatic taxiing is desired, this is achieved by a combination of drive generated by motors on the undercarriage and the use of conventional nosewheel gear steering, which however requires operation of all the systems required for steering, for example hydraulics and electrics. Nor is it possible, moreover, with the proposed devices and systems to achieve efficient boosting of the braking system, for, while a certain braking effect is achieved by the polarity reversal of the wheel motors or by other measures, the relief on the main braking systems is however not sufficient to stop heating of the main brakes to their operating temperature and the need for cooling on the ground so as to make it possible for the aircraft to take off again in the shortest possible period of time.